Top of Page

Introduction

Unlike most of the nine regions within this web-site the areas
included within the “American Southwest” are primarily based upon the history
of Spanish influence that grew north from Mexico into areas now a part of the
United States. As such we believe that this region can be defined as
encompassing the U.S. states of New Mexico and Arizona along with parts of
west Texas, as well as southern Colorado, Utah, Texas, Nevada, and
California.

Before American frontiersman could effectively reach the Pacific
coast this “Spanish Barrier” would have to be overcome. The
displacement of Spanish authority within this region began in earnest with
the Texas War of Independence in 1835. It reached its peak during the
1840’s with the Mexican-American War. As a result the California
Republic was created in 1846, and the U.S. Territories of Arizona and New
Mexico were created. Spanish authority cessed to exist in the “American
Southwest” region when32,000
acres were sold to the U.S. in theGadsden Purchase of 1853. The annexed territories, although
comparable in size to Western Europe, were sparsely populated. The lands
contained about 14,000 people in Alta California and fewer than 60,000 in Nuevo
México, as well as large Native
American nations such as the
Navajo, Hopi,
and dozens of others.

By the 1840’s many Americans began to
look beyond the settlements of the states on the western bank of the
Mississippi River, such as Missouri and the eastern part of Kansas.
Here wagon trains formed at such places as Independence in Missouri to travel
through the expansive prairies via several trails to the old Spanish colonial
city of Santa Fe which up to this time was focused upon its lifeline to
Mexico via the El Camino de Tierra Adentro. From Santa Fe
westward bound migrants traveled to the Rocky Mountains and on to California
on the Old Spanish Trail.

Westward migration into the Southwestern
United States first opened with the great rush of migrants to the mountainous
regions following the discovery of gold in California. Starting in the
1850’s prospectors used the Old Spanish Trail as they flooded into
California, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. The rush diminished significantly
after the most workable deposits were exhausted and many mining communities
disappeared. Yet the mining frontier helped lay the foundation for
communities that would become important commercial centers for continued
migrations into the Southwest. During the middle decades of the 19th
century cattle ranching, brought more migration to the Southwest via the
South Texas and Old San Antonio Trails. At first, cattle-ranchers settled
in Texas to pursue range ranching, an activity requiring ranchers to drive
huge herds of cattle hundreds of miles over open grasslands to designated
slaughter depots. As railroads opened more eastern markets to beef, more
sedentary forms of ranching took hold throughout the Southwest.

After the American Civil War an
increasing number of migrants turned their attention to the old Spanish
Southwest. Here they came into conflict with the Native-American Comanche,
and Apache who like the Great Plains tribes allowed migrants to cross their
territory but would not tolerate permanent settlements. When migrants moved
into Colorado and New Mexico in violation of native sovereignty, the Indians
waged a determined resistance. As a result the United States built and
maintained many military posts in the region. The Army by the early 1890’s
the Army had effectively subdued them and this region lay open to further
settlement during the last final decades of the 19th century.

Soon after the ranchers came to the
Southwest they were followed by the farmers. Thousands of migrants
pushed into the Southwest after the passage of the 1862 Homestead Act awarded
free grants of 160 acres to anyone who would improve the land. During
the 1880s and 1890s, these migrants-turned-farmers clashed with ranchers over
land usage and water rights. As with the Great Plains and other western
areas a significant percentage of these migrants were newly arrived foreign
immigrants, who preferred to take their chances with western farming rather
than endure life in the rapidly industrializing eastern cities, or former
slaves who sought refuge from the racially exclusive environment of the
American South. Unfortunately these ethnic minorities seldom found
increased opportunity or equality along the route west and settled along side
of the previous Mexican population in the growing cities of the newly
emerging Southwest.

List of routes

The following historic roads, trails and migration routes are
defined as having their terminus in present day Arizona, New Mexico, West
Texas, as well as southern Nevada, Utah, and Colorado.

Keys to more
information and resources

Map= link to a map of
this route. These maps have been developed
from accounts found in various research sources. The route lines, on
each map, have been linked to the current modern roads found to be the
closest to the original route descriptions. Locations marked along the
route are usually places named within the aforementioned research sources.

Road Trip= link
to a webpage about ad driving trip along this route. Here you will find an in-depth introduction to the route,
links to additional information, as well as a map of the entire route and a listing
of the U.S. counties through which it passes. The driving tour is divided
into individual segments of 1 to 2 hours driving time. Each segment
includes a map, directions, and features of historical interest.

Info. Link= link to a webpage containing
additional facts about this route.

Route= each route has a specific Identifier
code (ID Code). Each ID Code
includes a number that identifies the cultural / geographical area of
the United States in which we have developed information about the route, the
letter of the alphabet under which it is filed and a dedicated number for the
route. Thus data about the route designated as 5C2 would be
found on the webpage for “Routes of the Southeastern Gulf Plains”, filed
under the letter C route number 2*.*The specific
route number will not conform to a descending order as new routes are added
to the database.

§= denotes an established or proposed road
as listed in the Colorado Archives.

Keys to the routes

Use the “letter keys” to
quickly locate an historic route. Each identified route is listed
alphabetically along with links to additional information, places where the
route terminates, as well a short descriptive paragraph about importation
aspects of the route.

A

This
22 mile “toll road” was built c.1874 and appears to be an improvement of the
formerCucharas
& Sangre de Cristo Wagon Roadthat started at present day La Veta, CO.
Today much of this road is US Route 160. §

This route departed the Santa Fe Trail about 12 miles southeast
of Santa Fe and travelled in a southwesterly direction through the Abo Pass (Canyon). The trail
reconnected with the Southern Trail around.

Established
c.1878 this road ran, a distance of 85 miles, following Alamosa Creek
westward upstream to Tipton’s Ranch at Cat Creek. Then to a branch near
Lookout Mountain to Summitville. Then on to the summit of the divide between
the Alamosa and East San Juan Rivers. From here the road travelled down the
East San Juan River to Pagosa Springs. AKA Alamosa and Pagosa Springs
Wagon Toll Road; Alamosa, Summit & Pagosa Springs Toll Road; and Alamosa
San Juan & Pagosa Toll Road. §

B

This
route left the Southern Trail near Los Lunas, NM and proceeded west along a
route to Fort Mohave were the Mohave Road extended further west to Los
Angeles. Earlier it was a part of U.S. Highway 66 and the Atlantic
and Pacific Railroad.
It now approximates current Interstate 40.

C

Established
c.1862 this road ran westward from Canon City to the 28th mile of the Canon
City-Hamilton road southerly via Poncha
and Sawatch Passes to an intersection with Loring’s road from Ft. Garland to
Salt Lake City along the Rio Grande del Norte.
§

Established
in 1864 this east-west trail crossed the southern part of central Arizona’s
Verde Valley, linking Winslow, on the Colorado Plateau, with Prescott, in the
Central Arizona Highlands, where Fort Whipple was also located.

This
route was the portion of the Santa Fe Trail that cut through the
Oklahoma Panhandle. It was shorter than the Mountain Route
through Colorado by about 100 miles, AKA Cimarron Cutoff or Cimarron
Trail.

This trail was established in
1846 when Philip St. George Cooke a U.s. Army unit known as the “Mormon
Battalion”. The trail ran through present day Tucson and Yuma before
crossing Southern California to San Diego.

Established
c.1868, this 80 mile route ran from the south line of Huerfano County where
it crosses the Cucharas River, extending up the valley, across Cucharas Pass
and terminating in Moreno Valley. AKA Cucharas ­- Elizabethtown
Wagon Road §

Established
c.1868 this route began at the Francisco family homestead at present-day
LaVeta, Co. the road extended westward up the South Veta (Abeyta) Creek
crossing the Continental Divide at La Veta Pass and terminating at the
headwaters of theof
Sangre de Cristo Creek at 37.398 -105.524 in Costilla County,
Colorado. Around 1874 this route also became a “toll road” known as the
Abeyta Pass Wagon Road. §

D

Established
c. 1865 this route started at Denver, then southerly to about three miles
above the mouth of Plum Creek, thence southerly to where the road leading
from Colorado City to South Park crosses the south branch of the South Platte
River, thence southerly to where the roads leading from Canon City to
California and to Montgomery diverge, thence southerly to the crossing of the
Arkansas River, about fifteen miles above Canon City, thence southerly
through Poncha Pass to the crossing of the Rio del Norte, thence by way of
the Conejos agency and Los Pinos to the southern boundary of Colorado.§

This is the route taken, in 1776, by two Franciscan friars,
Dominguez and Escalante, who were sent to search for an overland route from
Santa Fe New Mexico to the recently established settlement at Monterey California.
They made it as far as Southern Utah before being overtaken by winter and
deciding to return to Santa Fe.

The path taken, in 1598, by the explorerDon Juan de Onate who claimed what
is now New Mexico for Spain. Starts roughly where Texas, Mexico &
New Mexico meet and follows the east bank of the Rio Grande to the junction
of the Rio Grande and the Rio Chama, north of Espanola. Later became
part of El Camino Realde Tierra Adentro.

E

Established
in 1863 this road from the Colorado River was southernmost route of two main
supply roads to the area of Prescott and Fort Whipple. Constructed from the river
ports of La Paz and Ehrenberg. This
toll road ran for about 150 miles over rough, unsettled Indian country.

The
“Royal Road to the Lands of the Interior” also sometimes
called just Camino Real, this was the main trail from Mexico to Santa
Fe, and followed the Rio Grande Valley. Also known as Chihuahua Trail, andEl Camino Real.

F

Established
in 1875 from Fort Garland in Costilla County, westerly to the Rio Grande,
crossing near the mouth of the Alamosa River, then extending westward up the
Alamosa River valley to the Decatur Mining District in Conejos County, then
to the Summit Mining District in Rio Grande County, about 75 miles. §

This trail was blazed in 1849 by Capt. Randolph B. Marcy.
From El
Paso it branched off the Upper Road (7U1) at Emigrant Crossing on the
Pecos River. Then went northeast approximating present day Interstate 20 to
Big Spring, and on through to Preston, Texas at the Red River. From
there it followed the Texas Road to the Fort Smith–Santa Fe Trail (7F3)
where it turned east toward Fort Smith.

Name for the entire route to Santa Fe. The eastern segment
generally known as the Santa Fe Road(6S7) ran from eastern
Oklahoma, along the north side of the Arkansas River to near Great Bend, KS
where it linked with the Santa Fe Trail.

G

In
1871 General Crook located and marked this military supply road. Actual
construction of a road started in the spring of 1872. By 1873, supplies began
moving by pack train and in September 1874, the first wagon supply train left
Fort Whipple for Fort Apache. The road was in continual use until the Rim
Road was built in 1928.

Established
1879, this road ran from the junction of the Mosca Pass Wagon Road
(Huerfano Co., Rt. 580) and the mouth of Manzanares (Grayback) Creek upstream
4 miles to near the carbonate and iron mines then to the summit of the
Grayback Mountain then down along Placer Creek to the Sangre de Cristo
Wagon Road, (U.S. Rt. 160).§

Josiah Gregg was a Santa Fe
trader who sought a southern alternative to the existing Santa Fe Trail.
In 1840 he decided to follow the south side
of the Canadian River and left Santa Fe with
forty-seven men, twenty-eight wagons, two canons, 200 mules, and 300 sheep
and goats. The expedition crossed the Texas Panhandle and passed
near Trujillo Creek in what is now Oldham County, and then across the Llano Estacado. This venture
marked Gregg's last return from New Mexico.

H

Established
in 1863 this road from the Colorado River was the northernmost route of two
main supply roads to the area of Prescott and Fort Whipple. Constructed from
the river ports of Fort Mohave and Hardyville, (now Bullhead City), this toll
road ran for about 150 miles over rough, unsettled Indian country. Also
known as the Hardyville Toll Road.

Established
c.1874, this road traveled between B.T. Howard’s Ranch in Huerfano County,
traveled by way of St. Mary’s, then southwest through the ranch of Hamilton
Brothers on the North Abeyta Creek, and thence to the mouth of the South
Abeyta Creek. §

K

L

The
road was first built in 1598 by enlarging an old Indian trail, and was
originally part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (7E3). It ranks
as the oldest European built highway in the United States.

Established
c.1876, this route ran from the Colorado-New Mexico border in the Canon of
San Isidro (or Manco la Burra) Creek then down to San Francisco Creek, then
down to the Purgatoire River then to Tempe Station on the Trinidad & La
Junta Wagon Road that went on northeast to La Junta. §

Established
c.1869, this wagon road travelled from the head of the south bank of
Purgatoire Canyon in Las Animas County, CO, then southward along the Vega
Redondo Creek upstream and across Sugarite Pass of the Raton Mountains in the
direction of Fort Union to the Colorado-New Mexico Line. §

An early American transcontinental auto
trail that connected Washington, D.C., and San Diego, California. An extension connected San
Diego to Los Angeles and San Francisco via El Camino Real. The Lee
Highway was a very important transcontinental route, and its name still
appears on roads in Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama to this day.

Established
in 1849 by the U.S. Army for military and commercial purposes between San
Antonio and El Paso. The route eventually ran west from the Gulf Coast and
approximates today’s U.S. Route 90. Also known as the El
Paso-San Antonio Road, or the South Texas Trail.

Established
c.1874 this road ran from the mouth of Middle Creek Canon in Huerfano County,
CO crossing the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at Middle Creek Pass, then to the
Huerfano-Costilla County line, then westward 10 miles into Costilla County. §

This
historic route was a national
auto trail
spanning the United
States.
First road signed in 1913, it was one of the first, if not the first, marked
transcontinental auto trails in America. AKA. Roosevelt Midland Trail

The
Mojave Road is the western extension of the Beale Wagon Road. It became
a military wagon road in 1859 with the establishment of Ft. Mojave on the Colorado
River. During the period of 1860-1880 the road served travelers heading
west. Today it is a dirt road across what is now the Mojave
National Preserve
in the Mojave
Desert
in the United
States.

Beginning
in 1849 Mormon pioneer Jefferson Hunt guided several parties of gold prospectors
from Utah to California along the Old Spanish Trail. He
used this trail when he was called by his church in 1851 to help create a
Mormon settlement in San Bernardino, California.

As
early as c.1874 this road travelled fromthe mouth of Mosca Creek in the San Luis
Valley, up the creek and across the summit at Mosca Pass of the Sangre de
Cristo Range, thence down the canyon on the east side, then into and thru
Poison Canyon. After improvements over the next 20 years it extended
down along the Hurefano River to Badito, CO totaling about 28 miles, from the
point of beginning. The road at Mosca Pass charged a toll of $2 per wagon $1
for a horse and rider, a 50 cents for each head of
cattle, sheep, etc. By 1892 about 30 to 40 wagons crossed the pass each
day. AKA. Mosca Pass & Huerfano Toll Road; Mosca Pass &
Poison Canon Toll Road; Mosca Pass Toll Road §

This highway became one of
the most famous roads in America, covering a total of 2,448 miles. It
served as a major path for those who migrated west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. AKA. US
Route 66, Will Rogers Highway; Main Street of America

Established
c.1879, this road ran from a point in the Wahatoya Valley in Huerfano County
about 2 1/2 miles southeast of La Veta extending up the east side of the
valley along the Wahatoya Creek then up to the head of the east canon of the
West Spanish Peak or what is called Ducket Gulch a distance of about 5 miles
from the beginning. §

Established
c.1880 this road ran from west side of Wet Mountain Valley where
Cottonwood Creek comes out of the Sangre de Cristo Range into the Wet
Mountain Valley, then up Cottonwood Creek and across the Sangre de Cristo
Range thru Music Pass, then down Sand Creek to its mouth in the San Luis
Valley in Saguache County. §

O

An
auto
trail
that once spanned the United
States
with a full 3,000 miles (4,800 km) of roadway from ocean to ocean. It crossed
eight states and 67 counties along the southern border of the United States.
Work on the auto highway began in 1915. By the 1920s, the trail was
complete from Florida to California.

The
Old Spanish Trail is a historical trade route which connected the northern
New
Mexico
settlements with southern California. Approximately 1,200 mi
(1,900 km) long, it is considered one of the most arduous of all trade routes
ever established in the United States. Explored, in part, by Spanish
explorers as early as the late 1500s, the Trail saw extensive use by pack trains from about 1830 until the mid-1850s
as it was generally too rough to safely accommodate freight wagons.

Old Trader’s Trail

Route 7O3;

Located in northern New Mexico, this was most likely a local
term for a portion of the Old Spanish Trail that ran from
Santa Fe to California.

A
network of locally maintained roads and highways organized by the Ozark
Trails Association that predated the United States federal highway system. The
roads ran over a series of routes and were maintained by both private
citizens and local communities.

P

Established c.1877 this road
ran from Parkview in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, extending up the left
branch of the Chama River and over the most practical crossing of the San
Juan Mountains, then to Fort Garland, Colorado. §

Established c.1880 this road
ran, in Huerfano County, CO southward up Pass Creek and across the
summit of the Sangre de Cristo Range at Pass Creek Pass, then down Sangre de
Cristo Creek in Costilla County to the intersection of the Abeyta Pass
Toll Road and the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad above the upper water
tank on the south bank of Sangre de Cristo Creek. §

Established c.1874 this road
proceeded from Pueblo up the Arkansas Valley to the foot of the Greenhorn
Range, then across the range via Hardscrabble Creek to the Rosita mines and
on into the Wet Mountain Valley, then over the Sangre de Cristo Range, at
Music Pass then west to Del Norte in Saguache County to connect with the road
to San Juan County. The distance from the beginning is about 125 miles. §

Q

R

Established
c.1870 this road was an improvement upon the original Trindad, Raton Wagon
Road from Trinidad to the Raton Mountains. This route travelled up Raton
Creek to the summit of the mountains and the boundary line between Colorado
and New Mexico. It eventually crossed through Raton Pass to the town of
Raton, NM. See Trindad, Raton Wagon Road. §

Roosevelt Midland Trail

see
Midland Trail

Route 66

see Mother Road

S

Established
c.1872 this road started in Colorado Springs and ran easterly to the north
line of Bear Baca Grant No. 4 near its northwest corner, then east along
north line to the base of the mountains then southeasterly along the base to
the mouth of Medano Creek, then up Medano Creek to the top of the pass, then
southerly to the Huerfano River to intersect the Mosca Pass Wagon Road near
the foot of Mosca Pass. §

Established
c. 1864 this route travelled from Fort Garland in Costilla County up along
the Sangre de Cristo Creek to Sangre de Cristo Pass (aka. LaVeta Pass), then
over the Sierra Madre Range, AKA Sangre de Cristo Toll Road. §

The
Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North
America. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, it served as a vital
commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to
Santa Fe in 1880.Near
Lakin, Kansas travelers could choose from the Mountain Route (7M9) or
the Cimarron Route (7C4).

Established
c. 1881, this road ran from Silver Cliff via Lake of the Clouds at head of
Swift Creek across the Sangre de Cristo Range to the headwaters of Rito Alto
Creek down the creek to the San Luis Valley. §

An ancient trail used by the
Apaches in their migrations in the San Simeon Valley between Skeleton Canyon,
and Mexico's Sierra Madre Mountains. This route was once a main route for
smugglers between the United States and Mexico. It is probable that
the route is approximated by modern Arizona State Route 80, north of Douglas.

An
often used term for the early southern overland route to California, but actually a network of
trails this route for immigration into from the eastern United States that
followed the Santa
Fe Trail
to New
Mexico
during the California
Gold Rush.
From Santa Fe it ran south to Mesilla,
New Mexicowhereit tied in with Lower
Road of Texas (7L6). From here it again turned west across Arizona to
Yuma on the Colorado River. This part of the network of trails included the Gila
Trail (7G2),
Kearny Trail, andButterfield Stage Trail. From Yuma it crossed southern
California to Los Angeles.

Another name for that portion of the Southern Emigrant Trail
(7S6) that ran through
Southern California from the Colorado River to Los Angeles. Emigrants
followed this trail from the river to Warner’s Ranch where there was
a branch route to San Diego. Also known locally as the Old Emigrant Trail, and the Canyon Road to the Colorado.

Another name for that portion of the Southern Emigrant Trail
(7S6) that ran
from the end of the Santa Fe, Trail to the Colorado River in Arizona. It came
was heavily used during California Gold Rush when 49ers followed Cooke’s
Wagon Trail (7C5) south. At
Santa Cruz, Mexico they travelled north to Tucson and west to Yuma, Arizona.

Established
c.1876 this road to run from the head of Summit Creek to Wagon Creek, then
westward to Sangre de Cristo Creek at Russel, then down Sangre de Cristo
Creek to the Sangre de Cristo Toll Road, then following down the said
toll road turning to the right up Spring Branch Gulch, to Fort Garland, about
15 miles. §

Established
c.1875, this road would meet the need to cross the Culebra Range to the
Sangre de Cristo Grant. A possible route would have started from Trinidad
west along the Purgatoire River then down the South Fork at Weston to
intersection with the Cucharas & Moreno Valley Road near Torres the over
San Francisco Pass, then up Gold Creek to the headwaters of Costilla Creek to
Costilla. §

Established
c.1868 this road to run from Trinidad to Rifenburg’s Mill at the mouth of
Long’s Creek, extending southwestward upstream in Long’s Canyon, crossing the
divide at the head of Red River, then to Virginia City, (now Tincup, CO), and the southern boundary
of Colorado. §

Established
c.1876 to run from Trinidad up the middle fork of Purgatoire River to the
southwesterly Cucharas­ Elizabethtown, New Mexico, Wagon Road,
then following said road southwest to the south boundary of Colorado, then
via the headwaters of the Vermejo River to Costilla Pass, then west to
Costilla River, then downstream to the Rio Grande near the town of Costilla,
New Mexico, then south to Taos, New Mexico. §

Established
c.1865 this route went from Trinidad on the Purgatoire River in Las Animas
County, then to the south boundary of Colorado over the Raton Mountains by
way of the old route known as the Santa Fe or Bents Old Fort Road. Also
known as the Raton Wagon Road. §

U

This
route was established by the U.S. Army in 1849. It ran between the Gulf
coast of Texas and El Paso. The route travelled through present-day Houston,
and Austin. It crossed the Pecos River at Horsehead Crossing.

Established
in 1831 by the Edwin Young company who followed an ancient Native-American
trail from the pueblo of Zuni to the Pima villages on the Gila River.
They then followed the river west to the Colorado and crossed into California
at Yuma. The portion of this trail from Pima to Yuma is also known as
the Gila Trail (7G2).

Image Gallery

During our research we have collected images and photographs
that are of general interest to a variety of historic American roads, trails
and migration routes. Some of them are presented on this website
because we believe they tend to provide the reader with additional
information which may aid in the understanding of this topic as well as our
ancestors past lives.

The
following Link
will take you to our library of genealogy reference books. Here
you will find books about historic American roads, trails, and paths. In
addition, there are texts that pertain to ethnic and religion groups, history, geography as well as
other books that will assist you with your research.